“Undoubtedly there is
a national and international plot against the Venezuelan State, the plot
includes the assassination of the President of the Republic, a magnicidio, and attacks against [government]
institutions. (…) We are investigating and we still have not reached the bottom
of this problem because it is much more serious than revealed by the [initial]
investigations, but we will continue investigating and taking measures,” said
Ortega Díaz.

She linked the alleged
plot against the government with the street protests of the last months,
calling them “terrorist acts executed by ultra-rightist groups.”

Ortega Díaz also
called on the central government to strengthen its “media defenses.” “This has
to be a State policy,” she remarked, “because the [media] attack against
Venezuela has been fierce.”

But the most notable
issue, at least from this blog’s perspective, was the absence from the government’s rhetoric yesterday of any claims of supposed
plots to kill the President or of an on-going coup d’état. In fact the official
media has been almost completely silent for some days on the issue.

Instead, the current leading
discourse this week seems to be this: The
Empire is using “dissolving tactics” against the Revolution by “inoculating”
internal divisions. Ranks are to remain united and trust their leader with
“maximum loyalty” in the face of these threats.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

The Minister of
Poplar Power for Interior Relations, Justice and Peace, Mayor General Miguel
Rodríguez Torres, has received the “Premio
de Periodismo Aníbal Nazoa” awarded by the pro-government organization Movimiento Periodismo Necesario.

Announcing the
unanimous decision by the jury of the journalism award, Rosa Caldera, of the Movimiento, stated that the decision was
based on the fact that: “on a daily basis he [Rodríguez Torres] has provided
Venezuela with information through which the truth has been revealed. We
believe that he has [successfully] refuted the versions of Venezuela as being
in total chaos. (…) Rodríguez Torres has also been able to unmask national and
foreign coup leaders who have conspired against the peace of the country. He
has therefore neutralized a coup d’état against President Nicolás Maduro.”

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

After denouncing in
the G77 meeting in Bolivia that there is an Imperial
conspiracy to overthrow him and “take over Venezuela’s resources,”
president Maduro has returned to Venezuela to continue revealing what he claims
is an opposition plot against him.

“There will be
justice on coup mongers, guarimberos,
and magnicidas [assassins of head of
State], it doesn’t matter who they are, whatever office they hold, they will
pay for their crimes, all the extreme right. We will keep on denouncing them
permanently,” declared
Maduro yesterday in his weekly radio program En Contacto con Maduro.

Arrest warrants have
been issued for three of the alleged plotters of the magnicidio conspiracy: Pedro Burelli, Ricardo Koesling, and Diego
Arria. The three are out of the country.

Another alleged main
plotter, Maria Corina Machado, was cited yesterday to the General Attorney’s
office as a witness to the case. According
to Machado, she was questioned for more than 7 hours but never formally
accused of being part of the plot. In fact she was told that since she is not
under formal investigation, and is only a witness, she could not have access
her file and her lawyers were not allowed to be present during the interview.

Machado has been publically
accused by president Maduro of being an “assassin” and one of the master minds of
the supposed plot to kill him.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Public media is now
devoting most of its attention to elaborate on a supposed plot to assassinate
president Nicolas Maduro and stage a coup d’état against the government.

Yesterday, in the Venezolana
de TelevisiónTV show hosted by president of the National Assembly
Diosdado Cabello “Con el Mazo Dando,” Jorge Rodríguez and Tareck El Aissami
revealed what they claim is new evidence on the case.

Rodriguez
made public what he claims are voice messages sent by one of the plotters, Pedro
Burelli, to an undisclosed Armed Forces official. In the recordings the voice
argues that the only missing piece of the plot is for a part of the army to “make
the decisions it needs to make,” in order to “clean the scum of chavismo.”

Attorney General
Luisa Ortega Díaz has issued arrest warrants for Pedro Burelli, Ricardo
Koesling and Diego Arria. The three are out of the country and Ortega
Díaz says her office has petitioned Interpol to arrest them. Machado has
been cited to the Attorney’s office as a witness on 16 June. She has declared
she will attend.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Several “experts” met
yesterday the Political High Command of the Revolution to, according
to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias,
talk about “the evidence of a recent plan of magnicidio [assassination of Maduro], and continued coup d’état
that involves leaders of the right, among them Diego Arria, Maria Machado, and
Henrique Salas Romer.”

After the meeting,
Óscar Shemel, president of the pro-government polling agency Hinterlaces, said
that “the evidence of a magnicidio
plan, immersed in a much broader plan of destabilization and neurotization of society, are convincing
[contundente].”

Constitutional lawyer
Hermann Escarra claimed that there is “evidence of electronic character
[e-mails] that prove that there are sectors that are interested in advancing
violence, (…) even in attempting against the integrity of the Chief of State.”

Rodríguez Torres told
Globovision
that the assassination of the president “was planned since 2010 in México,
during a meeting of youth and student leaders. (…) The plan was not only to
kill the president, but also to plunge the country into a crisis, total chaos.
They wanted to destroy the hopes of the millions that voted for Maduro. (…) There
is plenty of evidence [of the plot] that has already been shown, and more will
be gradually shown.”

The most significant
aspect of this conspiracy claim is the date: In 2010 Chávez was still president
of Venezuela. In June 2011 he announced he was suffering from cancer. Only in December
2012, shortly before his death in March 2013, did Chávez publically endorse Maduro
as his chosen successor.

Therefore the argument
implies one of two assumptions: either in 2010 the plotters of the magnicidio had foreknowledge of the
complete chain of events for the next three years –a possibility since the government
claims that Chávez’s cancer was “inoculated” by his enemies, - or the
conspirators had originally planned to kill Chávez but then simply re-plotted
the plan to kill Maduro after March 2013.

Friday, June 6, 2014

The introduction to this radio program
from the “Political School El Arado y el Mar,” published by the chavista web page Aporrea says:

“The political crimes
ordered and executed directly by the United States and its allies, such as
Israel and the Western powers, are a constant in our history. Ever since the
murder of Christ, in the hands of the Roman Empire, up to our times, there is a
long list of popular leaders that have been, openly or secretly, killed by Imperialism.

“The magnicidio [assassination] of Chávez was
one of these crimes, there is no doubt of that, it is absurd to believe
something different.

“Now, after his
death, we have entered a period of turbulence that threatens to change the
course [of the Revolution]. But this historical cycle cannot end in fascism, in
social democracy, in pacts; this would all amount to a new magnicidio. What this revolution needs is to return to the beginning
of this historical cycle and analyze the causes and consequences of the magnicidio, and to take appropriate measures
and necessary corrections."

The commentators
explain that it is unnecessary to waste time discussing the evidence that Chávez
was assassinated, since the evidence is in itself “forceful” [contundente]. Besides, says one of the commentators,
“Chávez himself already spoke about this, so really there is not much else to
argue. [Palabra de Chávez…]”

The attitude one assumes in the face of the argument
that Chávez was assassinated is what is really important: “The attitude we assume
today in the face of the assassination of Chávez is an ideological definition.”
Not to assume that Chávez was assassinated is to “refuse to fight” according to
one of the commentator.

Most interesting in
terms of the construction of a conspiracy theory: the commentators stress repeatedly
that the important issue is not to prove
that Chávez was assassinated –“we could waste several programs on that point”-
the issue is to discuss who and why he was killed. The host of the show
makes the point that, even within the chavista
leadership, the attitude assumed on
the issue reveals your political position on the revolution: failing to give
the appropriate importance to the need to investigate the death of Chávez is
indicative of a “social democratic tendency,” or worse.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

In his opening speech
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, Elias
Jaua, has told the audience that “politics has still its biggest challenge
in the construction of a defense system against the media plot by international
media that with the support of the extreme right, is trying to destabilize
Venezuela.”

As an antidote to
this media plot against Venezuela, Jaua proposes concrete measures: “the
counter-plot [contraconjura] of real
policies, the policies constructed by Hugo Chávez, the ones that president
Maduro is also constructing every day, the ones we are constructing as a
People. (…) The construction of realities is the best antidote against the imperialist,
fascist, media plots.”

Journalist and National
Assembly Deputy, Earle
Herrera, explained in a TV interview in preparation for the Forum, that the
media plot against Venezuela is part of a “fourth generation war”: “Never a
country has been subjected to a media bombardment like the one we are living in
our country. But it’s not only the media, it’s the whole cultural industry, or
better said, the counter-cultural or sub-cultural [industry] which has dumped
[everything] using diverse actors against Venezuela.”

Fortunately,
according to Herrera, the media plot has so far been unsuccessful because “the
Venezuelan people had a great pedagogue. And that pedagogue was president
Chávez. Today our people can not only read newspapers, watch TV, and listen to
the radio, they also know how to take the news reports apart; knows how to analyze,
distinguish, and digest them.

According to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, Earle Herrera
will address the Forum today with a talk on the theme “Transnational Media as
an Instrument for War and Research in National States.”

The Forum will continue
tomorrow and will include Venezuelan and international speakers who will
debate issues such as “the psychological war as an apology of terrorism” and “the
demonization of the social organizations of the Revolution in social media
sites."